Dan Gargan and a Box of Crayons: The Marketing and PR Thread

Discussion in 'LA Galaxy' started by barroldinho, Aug 1, 2014.

  1. dashiel

    dashiel Member+

    Jul 15, 2000
    orange county
    I like Klein a lot, but to suggest the attendance loss is only because of Beckham isn’t necessarily borne out by the figures.

    2003 - 21,983
    2004 - 23,809
    2005 - 24,204
    2006 - 20,814
    2007 - 24,215 (½ season of Beckham)
    2008 - 26,009 (Beckham)
    2009 - 20,827 (½ season of Beckham)
    2010 - 21,437 (½ season of Beckham)
    2011 - 23,335 (Beckham)
    2012 - 23,136 (Beckham)
    2013 - 22,152
    2014 - 20,811 (as of week 19)

    2004/2005 had better average attendance than all but the first two years of Beckham's tenure.

    2013 is barely more than 200 people ahead of the first year of SHC and is down more than 10% from 2004 when LA didn't have anywhere near the star power of its 2013 counterpart nor was it coming off of back to back MLS Cups.

    I'm ok with Klein towing the party line in public, but if he genuinely believes sub 23k attendance is purely based on Beckham leaving the team then I'm genuinely worried about the direction of the business side of things.
     
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  2. Geneva

    Geneva LA for Life

    Feb 5, 2003
    Southern Cal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    We always have better attendance in the fall, and that will bring the average up, but damn, that needs improvement big time.
     
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  3. dashiel

    dashiel Member+

    Jul 15, 2000
    orange county
    Yep, but it’s a big ask, the team will have to average just under 23,500 per game just to match last year’s disappointing attendance. Also keep in mind of the 8 remaining home games only 3 will be on a Saturday; 2 are on a Friday night, 2 are on Sunday and 1 is on Wednesday – oh and one of the Saturday games may end up being an afternoon game. Honestly even breaking 21,000 looks a tall task at this point in the season.
     
  4. Geneva

    Geneva LA for Life

    Feb 5, 2003
    Southern Cal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    There will probably be a couple of sellouts. I think it's doable. Agreed that just meeting last year is not good enough. The team is on a downward slide attendance wise in a world cup year and the economy is improving. Not a good sign.
     
  5. 73Bruin

    73Bruin Member+

    Jul 12, 2008
    Torrance, California
    I am pretty sure the big drop between 2008 and 2009 was due to the recession. I stopped attending in 2010 because the person I shared seats with couldn't afford the seats we had any more. I also know that corporations giving up their season seats on the west side for the same reason. My former company (a very successful and profitable financial company) had season seats for the Galaxy for quite a while via a multi-year package (which ended after 2010). They had similar arrangements in in all major sports in all of the cities where they had offices and gave up all of them up in 2009 due to the recession. In some cases they had had these seats for over 50 years (the Dodgers and Lakers) and multiple seat sets.
     
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  6. barroldinho

    barroldinho Member+

    Man Utd and LA Galaxy
    England
    Aug 13, 2007
    US/UK dual citizen in HB, CA
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Issues I've personally noticed this year:

    Serial typos on promo materials and a generally more amateurish feel overall
    The Locker Room Rewards program sucks
    No Chivas USA "away" game - a nice freebie in fairness, but highlights a scaling back on the perks given to STHs
    No free STH gift
    The aforementioned overall crapness of STH perks
    Aiding Man United in courting SoCal fans
    The new jersey being more expensive at SHC than independent retailers, pretty much negating my "fan discount"

    A new one that just occurred to me: the result-based match promo. Full disclosure, I never had an opportunity to use my Pollo Campero vouchers and didn't take advantage of the Buffalo Wildwings promo all that much either. However, a discount on a free Oil Change? How many times am I getting oil changes in a season? What about if the ticket belongs to a 14 year old? Or if a family of five with just one or two cars attends together?
     
  7. profiled

    profiled Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 7, 2000
    slightly north of a mile high
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Here are all the game day posters I can find, I think this is one of their better efforts -

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Beakmon FC

    Beakmon FC Member+

    LA Galaxy
    United States
    Jan 10, 2002
    The OC
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Agreed. I love the posters. That said, it's a bit of a clusterf___ to get a hold of the posters.
     
  9. dashiel

    dashiel Member+

    Jul 15, 2000
    orange county
    • Top one is very well executed and done by the new Galaxy designer (which makes the rest of the stuff so perplexing). Conceptually it veers more in to fine art than design, but whatever.
    • Dallas one is fine, nothing special, but well done
    • Philly one is a fan submission/commission
    • Chivas one looks like something out of an intro to Photoshop class
    • Real Salt Lake is terrible. Also “Our Boys from Brazil”, not sure I’d want any association with Nazi war criminals fictional or otherwise.
    • Portland is well done, some quibbles with execution
    • New England is fantastic, great concept, great execution, best poster of the season by a mile.
    • Most interesting thing about Dan’s is it doesn’t feel out of place with most of the offerings this season.
     
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  10. barroldinho

    barroldinho Member+

    Man Utd and LA Galaxy
    England
    Aug 13, 2007
    US/UK dual citizen in HB, CA
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Note the explosion coming from Lot 13. This is why we no longer allow tailgating.
     
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  11. profiled

    profiled Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 7, 2000
    slightly north of a mile high
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy

    They're working with someone called the Ames Bros (http://amesbrosshop.com/) for the next few -

    http://www.lagalaxy.com/news/2014/0...es-bros-commemorative-match-day-poster-series
     
  12. L.A. Native

    L.A. Native Member+

    Aug 1, 2013
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
  13. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I didn't appreciate the STH entrance being closed at the Southwest gate this past weekend. When I inquired why I was told they needed the people to give away the free t-shirts. That's genius. Let's devalue a STH perk to give away free t-shirts.
     
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  14. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The one thing they did with Beckham was significantly increase prices so they pulled a ton more revenue with the same average attendance. Which is the typical plan of an AEG owned sports team. They don't go for the neverending sellout streak like some other organizations. The Los Angeles Kings are in the midst of one now but they are a truely exceptional team with 2 titles and a semi final appearance in the last 3 years.

    It would be cool to see what the "average ticket price" for each year is.
     
  15. tsaldana3

    tsaldana3 Member

    Apr 26, 2008
    TX
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'l let you know, I am smarter than you! Why? Because I'm a 22 year old(actually turn 23 on Sat, yay!) social media expert!
    :D
     
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  16. Topper

    Topper BigSoccer Supporter

    Oct 19, 1999
    SoCal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #41 Topper, Aug 4, 2014
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2014
    Still haven't seen the T-shirt I missed - - - anyone have a pic?
     
  17. L.A. Native

    L.A. Native Member+

    Aug 1, 2013
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Here's mine after pulling it out of my backpack just now. Very cheap/thin but, its free and I actually like thin shirts over thick anyway.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  18. dashiel

    dashiel Member+

    Jul 15, 2000
    orange county
    Yeah the shirt ain’t lasting more than a handful of wash cycles.
     
  19. Topper

    Topper BigSoccer Supporter

    Oct 19, 1999
    SoCal
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Cool, thanks!

    Basic, but still cool.
     
  20. Eyenigma

    Eyenigma Member

    Oct 2, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Am I the only one who thinks those posters are tawdry and silly? Even if given one, I would quickly discard it. Why doesn't the team commission an artist with some real talent to do something of quality. Something like this: https://www.behance.net/gallery/1638896/Zlatan-Ibrahimovic-Nike-ad

    95% of what the Galaxy puts out is utterly pathetic, (design wise.) It's low rent, gimmicky, and amateur. The game day programs use low resolution images, the collateral and fan materials are a joke. And the attention to detail is awful. I suspect the Galaxy got some novice out of design school who certainly makes a valiant effort. But it pales in comparison to other teams.

    The only campaign I thought that was remotely decent was the "Champions Live in L.A."

    [​IMG]

    But the design elements lack continuity from one thing to the next, implying there's no style guide or standards for achieving a consistent look. Ah well. It's local. It's soccer. And they manage to put up some results. But as a loyal supporter, I am embarrassed with how the small details slip through the cracks.

    Sadly, I don't think anything will change until someone with some authority recognizes that fact other teams have really eclipsed the Galaxy in visual presence.
     
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  21. 73Bruin

    73Bruin Member+

    Jul 12, 2008
    Torrance, California
    Its not just other professional teams, frankly they are behind UCLA and SC in the marketing efforts. I am wondering how many of these things come from having a bean counter in charge of AEG now.
     
  22. reFnCoach

    reFnCoach Member

    Sep 18, 2003
    SoCal
    ^This
    my ticket price is probably 2x what it was 10 years ago. Even a 10% reduction in attendance results in significantly more revenue than in the old days.

    re: marketing, I think the first thing I'd ask is: what are they trying to accomplish? Turn existing fans into rabid ones? Recruit new fans? Which ones, youth teams in bulk or 21-35 year olds that want to drink and sing? its easy to say "do this or that" but it needs to be with a goal of accomplishing something....and I'm not sure the FO has a clear vision of what type of fanbase they are trying to build.
     
  23. Eyenigma

    Eyenigma Member

    Oct 2, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    LAG would honestly get more 'bang for the buck' using their newfound Opare cap money to hire this guy: https://www.behance.net/mattcoyle - check out his work for Toronto FC

    The return on investment would be far worth poaching him from Toronto. Just has a different level of professionalism. I mean it's not like the Galaxy don't have good imagery to work from with Robert Mora's photos.

    There's just someone who lacks vision in the front office and the aesthetics are managed much in the same way as everything on the team. Trading on past accomplishments only gets you so far. Luckily the team have strung together some results this summer so fans like myself are willing to tolerate the other things.
     
  24. Eyenigma

    Eyenigma Member

    Oct 2, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Couldn't agree more. And I'd add this goes way beyond marketing and design. It transcends every aspect of the club. I don't want to slam the team, that's not very 'fan-like' of me. And admittedly, all of this stuff is easier said in a forum than actually done.
     
  25. dashiel

    dashiel Member+

    Jul 15, 2000
    orange county
    Very talented bloke and LA or at least AEG is in dire need of a Creative Director, but for me the failure is higher up the totem pole with VP of marketing and eventually Klein and Beckerman for failing to recognize their VP is flat out failing. I said it in the Portland thread but three years of declining attendance is a sackable offense just as much as three years of missing the playoffs would be for a coach.

    For my money the organization we should be looking to is Sporting KC, they are executing at every single level in a way that no other team in MLS is and arguably better than any team ever has (LA 2010-2012 would also be in the running)
     
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